Seigi no Shinigami
by Kuro Chosha
Summary: Shin is a high skilled shinigami who comes to earth to send certain evil individuals to the gates of Hell.  But when his care for the innocent triggers his sense of justice, he makes a decision that could anger the inhabitants of both heaven and hell.


Breaking the Rules

The sun was shining down on the bustling city of Tokyo as the streets swarmed with various persons going about their business. Not a single person was aware of a mysterious figure that stalked slowly through the masses, shrouded in a pitch black, hooded cloak. The mysterious being let a small grin creep over his face as he phased through the crowd against the primary flow of their march, undisturbed by the physical humans of this world. He continued to progress along the streets closer and closer to his mission.

The cloaked figure turned down another street of the city and saw his prey ahead of him. An evil looking man stood by the entrance of an alley between two buildings, just as unseen as the cloaked figure. He was a dead soul, awaiting passage to the afterlife. He was dressed in a simple prison outfit, which was fitting as he had been executed in a nearby prison the previous night. With a devilish look on his face, he would randomly reach out and attempt to grab the possessions of the living people who passed him. His actions were futile and his hands only passed right through the busy citizens and their things. This did not seem to bother him. In fact, he seemed ecstatic about his new freedom from his prisoned life. His behavior remained unchanged as the cloaked figure finished walking up to him. From underneath his hood, the figure spoke.

"Hiroto Hayashi."

The dead man's eyes grew alert as he wheeled around to face the one person to take notice of him since his death. His face turned frightened as he caught sight of the cloaked man who was speaking to him.

"Hiroto Hayashi," the cloaked man repeated, "convicted on multiple charges of robbery and manslaughter. You lived a blood soaked life killing and mugging tens of helpless victims in your cold blooded agenda of greed and sloth. By the decision of Hell's High Council, you are sentenced to an afterlife of damnation. I am Shin, the shinigami assigned to carry out that sentence. "

Hayashi's soul cowered in fear as the figure threw back the hood of its cloak, revealing a handsome young man with straight blonde hair and crimson red eyes. He produced a deadly looking weapon seemingly from nowhere; a scythe. The handle was long and bent like an elegantly written seven, and seemed to be composed of many vertebrae of a human spine. The bottom of the handle had an acid green pointed jewel set into it. A dark obsidian blade was attached to the tip, looking to measure about two feet in length. Hayashi could see his own terrified face reflected in the man's weapon's blade as it was raised above him. He could only manage one short cry as the scythe flashed down and clove his body in two. His spirit faded away, leaving Shin the shinigami standing alone at the alley entrance.

Shin replaced his hood as he turned back to the city streets. Shinigami didn't normally remain in the living world after completing a task, but he was different from the rest. The earth and its living people going about their lives appealed to him much more than the dark and dreary caverns of Hell. And having completed his mission, he was free for the rest of the day anyway. He chose to stick around and have a look at the city.

Shin walked without purpose, paying attention to anything that managed to catch his attention. The cars driving down the street filled with all types of humans; workers on their cell phones, mothers with their children…the world seemed so nice at first glance. It was nothing like his everyday observance of sin and death. But it wasn't like he hated his job. Shinigami were a necessary part of afterlife. Leaving the guidance of good souls up to the angels of Heaven, shinigami were responsible for sending malicious souls to their atonement in Hell's rings. Shin himself was quite skilled, being recognized as one of the best in the business. His spiritual powers were quite advanced, allowing him to effectively locate and handle almost any type of soul that he was assigned to.

Shin's reflective thoughts on his existence were interrupted as his gaze was caught by a girl running down the street. Though her face was painted with a look of utmost worry and grief, Shin could not help but notice that she was stunningly beautiful. Her long brown hair was flying up behind her as she ran. Looking down the way she had come from, he saw three well-dressed men giving chase after her. Interested in what was going on, he rose up above the street and began to glide through the air after the group of them.

The girl kept running as the men behind her stayed annoyingly behind her. She narrowly avoided death a number of times as she ran out into the busy streets to stay ahead of her pursuers. Reaching a rundown looking apartment building, she bounded up the steps to the second floor and dashed across the balcony to one of the doors. Throwing it open, she slipped inside and immediately slammed the door shut behind her. The men reached the door and banged on it fiercely, ordering her to come out.

"Miyaki-san! It's no use trying to hide! We won't leave you alone until we get our money!"

Shin drifted down to the balcony, invisible to the insistent men. He marched up to the door and walked straight through it. The girl's apartment was a shocking sight. Virtually empty, Shin could see no valuable possessions in the small living space. There wasn't even a T.V. for entertainment purposes. A small kitchen attached to the main room held only a tiny refrigerator, a dirty stove, a sink, and some cracked dishes. Peering around the rest of the apartment, Shin saw only two additional rooms. A cramped restroom that had no bath, and a bedroom with an old futon and a few outfits hanging on hangers hooked on nails in the wall. This was the home of a poor person.

Shin returned to the main room to see the harassed girl leaning against the apartment's main door with tears running down her face as she tried to talk to the men through the door and get them to leave.

"I'll pay you back when I can! But I don't have any money to spare this month. My pay from my part-time job is barely enough to pay for this apartment. Please, just leave me alone."

The men revealed no compassion as they continued to try and gain entrance to the girl's home.

"Don't give us that bullshit." A slick voice spoke from the other side of the door, presumably from the leader. "Your father owed us a lot of money, and then had the audacity to get killed by a car before repaying his debt. We're the only reason he was able to support you as long as he did."

The man's words were swift and sneaky. Shin wondered what his aim was by just talking about a subject he was sure that the girl was already aware of. Then he heard the quiet clicking sounds between the man's sentences. He was buying time while his men were picking the lock of the apartment's door. With a popping last click, the job was done and the men swung the door open and grabbed the girl. The leader looked over her with a lecherous gaze as his men began to drag her towards the door.

"We've been telling you that your job is no good. If you'll just quit both the job and school, we have various…establishments that would make paying back your father's debt much easier."

"No!" the girl cried as she struggled against her captors. "I don't want to do that!"

"Well that's too bad girly. It's not up for debate."

Shin had seen enough. He was furious. The thought that people like these men roamed the streets preying on innocent people every day was appalling to him. And what was worse was that he was expected to just let it happen. He wasn't going to abide by that anymore. There would most likely be repercussions for what he was about to do, but he didn't care. Phasing through the wall of the apartment, he got ahead of the men as they slowly managed to pull the girl down the stairs. He took a deep breath and concentrated hard. What Shin was attempting to do had not been performed in several millennia. A spiritual wind blew around him, flailing his cloak fiercely. A roaring noise like a boom of thunder sounded as the light feeling of spirituality left him, replaced by the heavy feeling of earth's gravity. The wind and boom had gone unnoticed by the yakuza men. They continued to pull the girl along the sidewalk in front of the apartment until the leader noticed Shin.

"What's with the getup kid? Some kind of cosplay? Get out of our way, we're busy."

Shin stared intently into the men's eyes. "You can see me?" he voiced with an air of disbelief at his accomplishment. The men burst out laughing.

"What? Are you supposed to be invisible in that outfit? Get back to reality kid."

Shin ignored their jeers and spoke to the leader. "Where are you taking that girl against her will?"

"None of your damn business brat! How we get our money is up to us."

Shin spoke again, this time towards the girl. "Hey girl, do you want help?"

The yakuza members burst in before the surprised girl could answer. "She doesn't need any help! But if you don't get out of here right now, you're gonna be the one-"

"I wasn't talking to you, you filth!" Shin cut the men off. "Girl, do you or do you not want me to help you!"

"Y-yes!" came the answer from the terrified captive.

Shin smiled as he held scythe with the handle pointing at the lead man. The blade was behind Shin and pointing at the ground. The man not holding the girl drew a knife from inside his suit while the boss grinned towards Shin.

"You're going to regret messing with us kid. Life isn't like in the comics. People who try to play hero mainly end up dead. See you in Hell."

Shin's smile grew larger. "You don't know how true your statement just was."

Darting forward with inhumane speed, Shin thrust the end of his scythe handle at the chest of the man advancing on him with the knife. The green jewel gleamed as it entered through his chest without a single drop of pain. Shin heaved on the scythe and brought the handle up, dragging it through the man's body. The handle phased out of the man's shoulder, but it was not alone. Pulled out by the jewel on the scythe's end was a misty duplicate of the man; his soul. Shin whirled the scythe around and brought the scythe blade up underneath the man's soul and cut it in half. The soul faded away and the physical body dropped lifeless to the ground.

Shin turned to the remaining two men and advanced on them with his scythe. They both wore matching looks of shock as they tried to make sense of what had just taken place in front of them. Shin took the moment to dash up to the other grunt holding the girl and repeated his actions. Using his scythe's jewel, he extracted the man's soul then swung his blade up to damn his soul and kill his body. Shin grabbed the girl from the man's lifeless arms as he fell to the ground. The leader recovered from his initial surprise at this moment and pulled out a small gun in a panic and fired it at Shin and the girl in a panic. Shin was exceptionally skilled with his scythe and brought the blade around again and again to deflect the incoming bullets. The man emptied his magazine then dropped his gun to the ground. He followed the weapon, falling to his knees as he began to beg for his life.

"I'm sorry! I was only doing my job! I swear I'll never bother this girl again!"

Shin walked up to his pitiful form and raised the scythe over him.

"Your kind is weak. You prey on those unwilling to stand up for themselves and use distasteful means to exploit them to make your own lives easier. But when your intimidation is rendered useless, you are only cowards. This ending…is just!"

Shin's scythe flashed twice as it was swung repeatedly, first the handle then the blade. The man's fell on its face as Shin turned back to the girl, who immediately began bowing and thanking him.

"I'm in your debt now. I don't want to even thing about what they would have made me do to get their money. My name is Yuzuki Miyaki. Can I ask what yours is?"

"I go by just Shin."

Yuzuki seemed puzzled about Shin's lack of a surname, but she smiled regardless of the mystery and proceeded to invite him up to her apartment. Shin's face turned to a small frown as he answered.

"I don't know if that would be the best choice. You might not want to have me around when you learn more about me."

"What do you mean?" Yuzuki inquired. "What could be so shocking about you other than your skills with that weapon?"

Shin allowed a sneaky grin to spread on his face again as he answered, "The fact that I'm a shinigami."


End file.
